Selecting the 'right' political party.....

Well I personally like the industrialist party. I put my ability points on research, economy and population growth. Like you said, what kinda game you want to play. Then ofcourse there are the ruling party bonuses which adds to the mix, so many ways to play

Depends what your stratergy is, for example, if you want a high population then the Populists are a good choice as you'll need all the morale boosts you can get.

What the numbers mean exactly... no one knows, and that includes Stardock. Brad has said many are hold overs and no ones sure if they're percentages, actual bonuses, etc.

You can't go wrong with the Fedralists mind, you can never have too much money. More money = more ship purchasing power = ability to produce military from thin air.

The simple answer is yes, they are additive.

and the war party playing as the drengin.. well... you will just own in combat lol

I would go for the federalist too. There's no point in bunching up too many bonuses. Particularly weapon and defense bonuses which are less useful at the start.

I like a small research boost, so I can quickly research transport troops...

My advice: Play as the Yor for the miniaturization bonus, max out econ, morale, and sensors, and pick federalist for your party.

Drath: Populist: good.

It pwns, 50% defence bonus, super charged defences, high loyalty, and a higher pop growth for you "liberation" fleets

Drath: Populist: good. It pwns, 50% defence bonus, super charged defences, high loyalty, and a higher pop growth for you "liberation" fleets

I agree, except I am in love with the neutral ethic. Since the Drath start good, I can pick a lot of evil choices and still not have to pay for the Neutral alignment.

Yor and Darth are races with best core abilities.

I agree, except I am in love with the neutral ethic. Since the Drath start good, I can pick a lot of evil choices and still not have to pay for the Neutral alignment.

I used to play the Drath as neutral, because (as you said) you get all the bonuses neutral offers (which is a lot) while taking evil choices to further boost your abilities. However, when you start building big ships (and meeting Yor who have actually researched and implemented a LOT of psionic weapons with that damn miniturisation bonus) then the combination of highly powerful defences early on, the trust of other ... I mean races, and that 50% defence bonus means any robots trying anything end up being melted down for parts (of a monument to my Glorious Leadership, of course )

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243882

This is a link to My government analysis thread.
May be worth a look for those interested.

I like to go the Industrialist route, to the extent I also up the racial bonus on War Production another 20%. This gives me a solid early edge in producing colony ships, constructors, then warships. My goal is to first grab all the planets and resources possible, then run to the top of the military ranking as fast as I can, then stay there.

I play with the technologists. The sensor bonus can be quite handy (it means I hardly ever put sensors on my warships).

Hi!
I too have been analysing those political party abilities. In the 1.0x game they were not balanced, but in the 1.1they too are unbalanced - I'd rather say overnerfed. I've compared those parties by the costs in race points I have to pay for the same abilitiy.

The most you can get is 5 points with Technologist (4 poitns +20% research and 1 point sensors). Since I usually spend the most money in research my race gets the most advantage from Technologists. Please remember I get 10% of the research for free, and that is like I'd also have a 10% econ bonus!

Now look at Industrialists: their abilities would cost 4 points for 20% more military and social production, but in each category only a half is charged! That again means like 20% better economy, if I'd go to all-out building and no research.

Looking at the parties in such a way the Federalist (costs: 3 points) aren't so appealing anymore. They just make more money. However even the 30% bonus I usually pick makes for me in the mid-game so much money I'm not able to spend even with 2 fully upgraded starbases per every bigger planet!

The rest of parties "costs" from 3 to 3.5 points, and are IMO pointless to chose, at least with my style of play (buying planets/ships/SBs from AI, or playing with Luck is IMO cheese).

BR, Iztok

I'm not sure this is the right way to look at political parties. You are assuming that the base cost that SD assigned to race picks are correct.

More example I'm sure the Espionage picks are definitely over valued pre 1.1.

. Please remember I get 10% of the research for free, and that is like I'd also have a 10% econ bonus!

This is not exactly correct. Since 10% economy bonus is more flexible than 10% (20%/2) research free! With the same econ bonus i can use it for social/military/research. More flexibility.

I like the industrialists party. It's the only one I'm using right now.

I think I would give a try to the populist, the war party or the universalists.

Since I'm a Québec separatist I hate Federalists

Others party looks okay but I dont think I'm going to try them.

@ManOWar2, can you select the 'right' political party if you lean left?

My usual political choice now is the Populists, as they give bonuses to two of the abilities (Diplomacy and Morale) that I value the most. They've been nerfed for v1.1, but imo a 10% bonus to each, instead of the old 20% apiece, seems more realistic. I take abilities from Diplo, Econ, Morale, and Pop Growth only, plus Populists, which gives a great boost to taxes and, indirectly, everything else.

Hi!

This is not exactly correct. Since 10% economy bonus is more flexible than 10% (20%/2) research free! With the same econ bonus i can use it for social/military/research. More flexibility.

Heh, seems you're right.
In my recent crippling game I trided to prove my point and started a game without ANY econ bounus (10% planet quality, +20% research, +30% growth, Industrialists). Despite I had most pop, and the biggest econ, I had (and still have ) through most of the game problems with lack of money. Those problems were so hard I had in early mid game increased taxes to 69% (risking rebellion on two small planets without morale buildings) AND selling tech for money, what I usually don't do.

Some points in econ really help. However currently they're done so strangely that the only smart solution is investing 4 points in +30% bonus. That leaves only 6 to be distributed elsewhere, thus quite limiting race design choices.

BR, Iztok

Told you so.

In my very first game I tried something like yours, with tons of social bonus and research without economy, the results weren't pretty,

There's a reason why econ picks are so expensive you know.

Morale is the best for a race pick, since it leads to higher taxes and thus better morale.
Also makes it easier to put cities to 100% which also doubles growth.

As for parties, if you already chose +20% morale for your race, getting Populists isn't really that much needed.

Party bonuses are added to racial bonuses.

This is how tax is calculated on each planet:

34.5 (roughly)*sqrt(pop)*(race bonus inc party)*(sum of buildings)*tax rate

The interstellar government values are wrong. The real ones are 10,20,30% respectively (I can't remember the names...Federal, Star Democracy, something else? )

So in the mid game when you have galactic stock exchanges, an economy planet or two with 15B or more people, 80% tax rate and the top form of government, you'll have a base race ability of 45% to economics (15 from economics research tree, 30 from government).

Then for every stock exchange, you'll get

1.45*1.3*107-107=95BC

With federalists you'll get an extra 20% to race bonus

1.65*1.3*107-107=121BC

With 30% racial bonus pick as well, the numbers are 136 compared to 164. And realistically, the difference is larger still since you'll probably be able to maintain a population larger than 15B.

Meanwhile, manufacturing and research works like this:

Production on planet*sum of special buildings on planet (eg manufacturing capital)*(racial+local starbase)

Therefore the production bonuses are replicated (and more) by a single starbase.

I like to start off modestly, get the infrastructure very solid and self-sustaining then power the production and research forward. For this, I want bonuses that will have greatest effect in the mid game and onward, so I max out economics. Most of the other choices are easily replicated later on, but they do give you a stronger start.

Defense is absolutely worthless. Get eyes of the universe, get your logistics up, decent weapons techs and you'll have swarms of fighters that kill off entire fleets easily.

Soldiering bonuses from the party are a bit worthless too. The AI doesn't really value them and you can bum rush the soldiering tech really quickly and have a game long advantage over the AI.

Morale, Population growth, and economy are the way to go.

I usually go for whatever party has bonuses my custom race does not have.
Either that or technologists.

*snicker*

I am always amused when people state their opinion as fact with absolutely nothing to back it up.

Presenting evidence to back yourself up, as some posters have done in this thread, is the * only * way to gain any credibility, anything else and you can be certain everyone else is laughing behind your back, just as I am.

What's your problem mistoffeles?